Harrison: Infogrames & Atari done with 'huge-budget, single-player games'

by James Ransom-Wiley { May 23rd 2008 at 3:58PM }

Stopping short of calling Alone in the Dark his ~~troubled~~ (transitioning?) company's "swan song," Infogrames president and Atari legal guardian Phil Harrison has again proposed that the company (meaning Infogrames the parent and Atari the wholly owned US subsidiary) is focused on carving out its place in the budding online gaming business with a stress on social communication. "I don't see that we're going to be making huge-budget, single-player games in the future," Harrison told Gamasutra, adding, "Now, that doesn't mean that we won't have ambition to do really incredible games ... but they won't be one-player, narrative-driven, start-middle-end games."

Will we be hearing the same message if Alone in the Dark manages to answer CEO David Gardner's prayers (to the tune of 2-3 million units sold)? Sounds like it. Harrison has clearly set his sights on taking a "slightly aggressive, leading-edge role" in the online gaming movement where loneliness is the last motif he wants to cultivate and dark days are in the company's past. "We have plenty of titles in our pipeline, and we think [Alone in the Dark] will be an important part of our year, but it's by no means the only part of our year."

Tags: alone-in-the-dark, atari, infogrames, phil-harrison

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

tmacairjordan87 @ May 23rd 2008 4:02PM

Who wants to bet they're going the wii shovelware route?

PojoMofo @ May 23rd 2008 4:03PM

*que Tom Cruise yelling "SHOW ME THE MONEY"*

voodoo_craig @ May 23rd 2008 4:03PM

Don't forget XBOX Live and PSN, easy money!

Phi Nguyen @ May 23rd 2008 4:15PM

Atari's Greatest Hits No. 49

LaughingTarget @ May 23rd 2008 4:39PM

Unless Atari puts something out that comes under 60%, then no more easy XBLA money.

Anthony33 @ May 23rd 2008 4:12PM

I see more of this happening as production costs continue to rise.

Co @ May 23rd 2008 4:45PM

This is right in line with what Harrison was preaching right before he departed with Sony. No surprise here.

TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 23rd 2008 4:18PM

Beat 'em & Eat 'em MMO?

TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 23rd 2008 7:20PM

*crickets chirp*

Kassu @ May 23rd 2008 4:19PM

Best pic ever.

chadyasutora @ May 23rd 2008 4:24PM

Wait... Atari's gonna be focusing on online play from now on!? But they sucks!

We all know how DBZ:BT3s online play turned out!

4.5 @ May 23rd 2008 4:25PM

Actually I think your the only one that knows how DBZ:BT3s online play turned out.

DMeisterJ @ May 23rd 2008 4:39PM

Nicccceeee.... That was so funny LOL!

chadyasutora @ May 23rd 2008 5:12PM

Epic. Lag.

Residentevil72501 @ May 23rd 2008 4:28PM

Phil Harrison makes me want to kick a puppy. I bet they are working on Second Life for consoles! OH BOY OH BOY......

horngreen @ May 23rd 2008 4:37PM

JOUST online! I'm still shocked they released Atari Anthology on the first Xbox with nothing more than leaderboards. Combat is not the best game in the world but it sure sucks alone! Jesus Atari get it together, this is just sad.

JRM @ May 23rd 2008 4:37PM

Sounds like Harrison has thrown the white flag, and will stop making real video games.

DMeisterJ @ May 23rd 2008 4:40PM

Erm...

I wonder what PH means? MMOs? or games that have both single-and mult-player modes.

SoulBlade @ May 23rd 2008 4:41PM

Hmm... so they saw that they weren't making money on the titles they spent a shit load of money on and they decided to stop doing that. Yea... shame on them - you have to appease us whiny gamers even though we don't play your games!

That or they could just make better games... but there's no guarantee that they'd sell unless they had the word Halo, GTA, Mario, etc. in the title.

Residentevil72501 @ May 23rd 2008 5:02PM

No dude the problem is that "us whiny gamers" would not buy their games because they SUCK did you even play Driver 3? I mean the first couple were pretty good for that time period and they just force fed us shit games for the past 5 years or so and they dont deserve anything from us gamers to be honest. I am really excited about Alone in the Dark, maybe they will finally make something that is worth their time, and ours. But then again it is made by Atari, and Phil "I Love Second Life on consoles" Harrison. Ok ok ok so there will probably not be SL on a console but if someone was going to shovel that horrid shit to consoles it would be Harrison and Atari.

Shagittarius @ May 23rd 2008 5:05PM

Single player games can be lucrative. Shifting your focus in the marketplace isn't going to make your games any better, and I'm willing to bet this is just more of the downward spiral for these guys spearheaded by the retards in sales and marketing.

Residentevil72501 @ May 23rd 2008 5:19PM

I know how Atari can save itself it came to me like a cow looks at an oncoming train! What do they do? Well let me tell you! They should put Runescape on PS3, Wii, 360, PS2, DS, PSP, Iphone,lol Ngage. There you have it! Port the living shit out of it and Atari stock will soar! (Hopefully into the dirt so we never have to play one of there horrid games again, unless Alone in the Dark rulez then they can come back into our loving gamer arms)

born2kill @ May 23rd 2008 8:05PM

Does anybody know the status of Test Drive Unlimited 2?

NickT @ May 23rd 2008 8:25PM

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I LIKE playing single-player games. With the exception of Fifa, or GTAIV, I rarely play online. Usually, game lounges are full of kids and the filthy wannabe gangster, mouths, or sexist/racist opinions.

Not for me thanks Phil!

Nando @ May 23rd 2008 8:41PM

what happened to the "Directeur Général Délégué" title?

t_m @ May 24th 2008 3:40AM

Shame, cos (like the guys on penny arcade) i think they've stumbled on to something awesome with the "lots of episodes on one disc" idea.

But I guess breaking those episodes up into DLC chunks might lead to more money and less piracy in the long run. Maybe.